Narrative:The 767 departed runway 09 at Porlamar (PMV) on Isla Margarita, Venezuela at about 22:00 hours local time. The departure clearance contained non-standard phraseology. The crew didn't fully understand the clearance and the air traffic controller did not challenge the flight crew's incorrect readback. The crew entered the first reporting point into the flight management computer.Instead of maintaining runway heading, the airplane turned left to 032 degrees on a heading direct towards the PERRY intersection (located in the Caribbean at 13° 14' 37N 63° 5' 14W, 150 miles away). Less than two minutes into the flight, GPWS warnings began: "Terrain! Terrain! Pull Up! Pull Up! Terrain! Terrain!" The First Officer responded with a gentle pull up from 9.3 to 12.5 degrees. After gaining 200 feet, he lowered the nose to 11.2 degrees, just before the airplane's left wing clipped the last 20 feet of a 300-foot uncharted tower on top of a 3,000 foot mountain (Cerro Copey). After the incident, the crew raises the nose to 16.9 degrees and applied full thrust.The airplane returned to the departure airport, and landed with a six-foot long, two-foot deep hole in the left wing leading edge, a ruptured fuel tank, damage to the flap drive, stringers and front spar, and a scar of the tower's red paint across the top of the wing.

This information is not presented as the Flight Safety Foundation or the Aviation Safety Network’s opinion as to the cause of the accident. It is preliminary and is based on the facts as they are known at this time.